In a move to help the stranded Afghan cadets, India has announced an additional year-long training program for about 80 graduate cadets from the erstwhile Afghan National Army. With the government that they have been trained to fight for now gone, around 80 aspiring Afghan officers found themselves stranded in India, possibly unwelcome in their own country as they could be identified with the previous government. The cadets had recently completed their military training in India.

“Eighty young Afghan cadets who recently graduated from various military academies in India have been offered a 12-month training program in Effective English Communication for Business and Office,” the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi said in a statement on Saturday.

According to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India, the program will begin February 7 and the cadets will be placed in three different institutes, where they will be provided accommodation and a monthly allowance. The training is being provided under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) of the MEA.

“Given the challenges and uncertainty facing these freshly graduated young cadets due to the prevailing situation back home, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in India welcomes and applauds this generous move by the Indian government,” read the statement released by the Embassy. 

Officials of the erstwhile Afghan security forces were being provided military training by the Indian government as part of its defense and security cooperation with the former Afghan government.

Since the fall of Kabul in August last year, Afghan cadets had on a few occasions protested in New Delhi, requesting the Indian government and the international community to help them.

(SAM)